Power Steering Dying?

The title says it, I think my Power Steering is going out. At initial startup, I'll pop the car in drive, or in reverse (I don't warm up the car) and turn the wheel and I'll have to work hard to turn the wheel, then it'll be easy, then hard, then easy. Like it has 'dead spots'.

When the car is in motion however (like any car with or without power steering), I can steer fine. This has intermittrently happened for over 15k miles, but it's more apparent now. My P/S fluid is changed every 25k miles, and my belt was changed right after the issue started appearing at 90k, so it is not a bad belt job, it did this before it was changed. Normal? Old age?

Thanks for input!
Tyler

the seals in the rack are bypassing. It's rack time.

the seals in the rack are bypassing. It's rack time.
man thats a bummer. Ive never had a honda P.S. rack fail. So does this explain why my fluid went down before the last change?

Your fluid probably dropped because one of the seals into the boots is leaking.
It's fairly common on older Hondas. Take an ice pick or large needle and poke the bottoms of the rack boots, one should leak oil if there's a bad seal.
The seals I mentioned are in the input end of the rack that direct fluid to one side or the other. They will bypass right back to return.

When those seals go, it will allow a mixture of seal material and metal to get through the system. The pump should also be changed and all the lines blown out before the new rack is installed.

What fluid have you been using when you changed it?

Honda Fluid! I'm just really suprised at this, I maiantain it so well, and none of our older Hondas (127k and 148k Accords) have done this, our family friend has a '94 with 275k miles still strong. One thing that does make me mad is the fact that it was not inspected when during the 90k service it says to inspect 'Power Steering'. The tech who worked on it could've taken some attention to the fact that the fluid dropped an inch. :dunno: You'd think they would've wanted me to fix it, but nothing was said.

So here's the next question, if it does fail, will the car become 'undriveable'? I don't know how much this is going to run, but I don't really know if I want to dump money into the car if I don't plan to keep it. Anyways, if you have an 'idea' of what this kind of work/parts runs with Honda replacement please let me know, as when I ask my mechanic about it, I'd like to have a 'figure' to work from.

Thanks Fred!

The car won't become undriveable, you'll just have no assist steering. Not fun on a power rack with no power.

I checked online at a couple of Honda parts places, a new rack is OUT of the question 989.00 list. Just too much for me.

A Honda reman rack is 416 list.
A Honda reman p/s pump is around 298 list.
then figure on 5 to 6 hours of shop labor, (guessing here, may be less) figure probably between 70 and 100 per hour. Add an alignment too. Plus fluid and the other stuff that goes along with it.

You could get cheaper reman parts, but I've had NO luck with anything from the aftermarket anymore.

btw, remember your car is covered under that odd recall/extended warranty thing. You have free coverage for emissions related services/problems to 140,000 miles.

Thanks Fred!

I got on the phone with Honda today, and a tech told me he suspects internal leakage inside the pump itself. Apparently Honda has a kit dedicated to this issue, as they've seen it happen on a regular basis, and the fact that my car is from Texas, and the proximity of the P/S pump to the engine, with both creating a good deal of heat, the seals inside the pump basically become mush.

300 for a Honda P/S repair kit installed, that price includes 180 labor. Car is going into my mechanic tomorrow to get inspected, and if they can't get the kit for just the seals like the Honda dealer can, I will just take it to the Dealer, I'm not gonna spend 300 on a Honda pump if I don't have to, and I don't 'do' aftermarket parts.

About the warranty, yeah I found that one out the hard way, I paid for a diagnostic at my mechanic, and then afterwards they reset the light, never came back on. I should've taken it to the dealer, then I wouldn't of paid for the diagnostic, and I would've gotten a free map sensor, should this one ever fail. I did get the free tuneups though!